Foreign pop songs are loved by Koreans as much as own Korean songs. Many foreign pop songs, including rap, band music, movie OST, and EDM ones, are receiving Koreans’ attention regardless of genre. To become familiar with English, many people say it’s useful to listen to pop songs often. There are many useful and interesting English expressions in pop song lyrics. Therefore, let's find out about abbreviations and funny expressions through some pop songs.

Queen – Crazy Little Thing Called Love

(abbreviation)
→ I gotta be cool, relax, get hip get on my tracks.
냉정하게 한숨 돌리고 정신 차려야겠어, 다시 본연의 자세로 돌아가.
“I got to” is short for “I have got to.”
ex) I gotta get to the shop. 나 가게에 가야돼.
(funny expression)
→ I kinda like it Crazy little thing called love 약간은 좋아, 사랑이라 하는 정신나간 일
“Kinda” is a phonetic spelling of “kind of” and is used to denote spoken language.
ex) Admit it, it looks kinda funny. 인정합니다, 그것 참 재밌어 보이는군요.

Green Day – When I Come Around

(funny expression)
→ Well, don’t get lonely now, and dry your whining eyes
이제 외로워 말고 젖은 눈을 닦아.
Often “whining” means “complaining”, but when you translate the above sentence
directly the result is something like into “wipe your sobbing eyes.” You might feel that
this interpretation, which means that your eyes are wet with tears is awkward, so a
more natural interpretation might be “wipe your tears”.
(funny expression)
→ You’ve been searching for that someone and it’s me out on the prowl
넌 누군가를 찾고 있었는데, 그건 배회하는 나였어.
“On the prowl” is an idiom that means that animals or people are looking for food or something else that is of
interest to them.
ex) There was a fox on the prowl near the chickens. 닭들 근처에서 여우 한 마리가 배회하고 있었다.

 In addition to pop songs, there are many other ways to become more familiar with English. Through various media such as movies and dramas, we can get closer to English. Let’s approach English without thinking that it is hard through the aforementioned easy way.

74th Cub Reporter YOO HYUNGJIN yoo9428@naver.com